“The horse that changed my life? The obvious answer would be (multiple stakes champion) Inglorious. She propelled Luis (jockey Contreras) and I to a record-breaking season. But on a more personal level, my answer would be
Haverhill.
This is a horse my wife (trainer Katerina Vassilieva, now Esposito)) claimed in November of 2012. I remember her coming home saying, ‘I’m going to take some money and claim this horse Haverhill tomorrow.’ Like all good better halves in this industry, I supported her 100 per cent.
Haverhill was a four-year-old gelding and although I couldn’t quite understand her thought process, I went along with her idea. She had researched his father, Saffir, and concluded that Haverhill would like the dirt and would be a good fit for Gulfstream Park.
I was completely underwhelmed when I first met ‘Haver,’ but I never anticipated how attached I would become to him.
It wasn’t until we got Haverhill off the track and into the training centre at Palm Meadows (Florida) that his real personality came out. He loved the heat and starting gaining weight at an incredible rate.
You have to understand that I’ve been in this business for over 25 years and I can safely say that he is the one horse I bonded with in such a deeply personal way. He was so fun to be around and watching him train and seeing his confidence grow daily was a thrill for me.
Haverhill eventually did so well at Gulfstream that he was sold to Gary Barber for an amount of money Kat couldn’t refuse.
I couldn’t be there the day he left. I can still picture him looking for me coming down the shed to play with him. I have a photo of him in my office and not a day goes by that I don’t think of him.”
By Anthony Esposito, for Ontario Horse Racing
(C) Ontario Horse Racing 2016. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced without permission.
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